Johnny Appleseed

Jonathan Chapman was born in Boston about the year 1775. How lie drifted from that point to the wilds of western Pennsylvania, where he was first known to have indulged his peculiar monomanía f or the planting of apple-trees in the wilderness, is not known. The rapid settlement of that part of the country, however, soon drove hini further westward. In 1801 he entered the territory of Ohio with a horse-load of appleseeds, gathered from the cider-presses of western Pennsylvania ; coming first to Lieking county, and planting his seeds in many fertiíe spots on and about the banks of Licking creek. For the next flve years he disappeared, passing the period, doubtless, in the establishment of other nurseries in a different quarter. In 1805 he was seen by a pioneer settler of Jefferson county, drifting slowly down the Ohio river in two canoes, lashed together and loaded with appleseeds. These he was transporting westward, for the purpose of creating orchards upon the furthest verge of white settlement. Entering the Muskingum riyer at Marietta, he passed by various tributarles to the head of navigation in Ashland county. Johnny selected the most fertile spots in the rich loamy grounds on the banks of the creeks for his purpose; planting of ten as high as 16 bushels of seed to the acre; and enclosing the grounds with a slight fence or guard of brush. He then left the place until the trees had in a measure grown. The oíd settlers describe the margins of the streams upon which these early nurseries were planted as thickly covered over with a low matted growthof timber, while near the water's edge a rank mass of long grass interlaced with morning-glory and wild-pea vines, among which drooping willows and clustering elders stood like sentinels on the outpost of civilization. The canoe voyage of 1806 appears to have been the only occasion upon which Johnny adopted that method of transportation, all his other journeys having been made on foot over the old trail leading from Fort Duquesne to Detroit by way of Fort Sandusky, known as "the second route through the wilderness of Ohio." Having planted one stock of seeds, he would return to Pennsylvania for another, gathering them from the cider-presses at different places. These seeds he conveyed to their destination in rude leathern bags, in place of linen ones, the dense growth of underbrush and briers encountered upon the way making the use of some more durable fabric necessary. Sometimes the bags found transportation on the bank of an aged or broken-down horse which their owner had mercifully rescued from harder usage, but more frequently on his own sturdy shoulders. When the trees were ready for sale, Johnny either sold them himself, at a very low price, or left them in charge ofsome one to sell for him. And i.i this matter of sales he was as methodieal as any merchant. If the customer was too poor to purchase trees, which f requently happened, he got them without pay ; if in better circumstances,but ("estitute of ready cash, Johnny made some convenient trade, taking old clothing or a supply of corn-meal in exchange ; but if the owner was wellto-do Johnny demanded money, which Jie was seldom without. His "general custom,howeyer,was to take a note payable at some indeflniteperiod. Having received it he troubled himself no further about the payment, considering the transaction at an end, as, indeed, it generally was. Caring little for money and with very limited personal wants he frequently carne into possession, by ;he sale of trees, of more money than ie cared to keep. Tliis he soon disaosed of in gifts to some poor family, struggling against the misfortunes common to a life on the border, in the jurchase of doctrinal books of the Swedenborgian faith for gratuitous distribution, and in the care of aged and infirm horses. Whenever he saw or heard of an animal being abused, he at once purchased it, and gave it to some more humane farmer, stipulating !or its kindly treatment, The severe abors incident to a rough frontier life often maimed or disabled horses, whioh otherwise a burden to their owners, were tnrned loose to die. Whenever Johnny heard of such an animal he miiiediately made diligent search for t, and, bargaining for its proper care luiing the winter, led it away in the mmmer to some ricli pasture which he tad found in his wandering. In this way he often collected a considerable Irove of animáis, conyalescent mem)ers of which he persistently refused ,o sell, but readily gave away to such )ersons as bound themselves solemnly io treat them well. He regarded the infliction of pain or death upon any creature as an almost unpardonable sin. His conception of ;he hcinousness of this sin, too, was aot limited to the higher forms of life, but extended to the minutest insect, and to its mere disturbance or inconveniences. One cool autumnal night, while lying by his camp-fire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes blew into the flames and were burïed. Taking the liuge tin dipper, which answered the doublé purpose of up and mush-pot, from his head, he illed it with water and quenched the ii e, remarking afterward, "God forbid ;hat I should build a lire for my comfort which should be the means of destroying any of his creatures !" At anoiher time he made his camp-fire at ;he end of a hollow log in which he in;ended to pass the night; but finding t occupiedby a bear and her cubs, he removed the fire to the other end, and slept in the snow rather than disturb he bears. Walking one morning over l smi'll prairie he was bitten by a ratlesnake. Some time afterward a friend nquired of him about the matter. He drew a long sigh, and replied ; '-Poor ellow! he only just touched me, when , in an ungodly passion, put the heel of my scythe on him and went home." _gain, while assisting in the construc-ion of a road through the woods, a ïornet whose nest had been destroyed n the operation found lodgment unlerneath Johnny 's shirt. Notwithtanding the fact that he was repeatdly atung by the enraged insect, he emoved it with the greatest gentleness. His companions láughingly askd him why he did not kill it, receivng in reply, "It would not be right to cill the poor tbing, for it did not inend to hurt me." Next to his enthusiasm for the culivation of apple-trees in what he ed the proper way that is, irom the seed - pruning and grafting being an absolute sin in his eyes - was the zeal with whicli he advocated the puculiar doctrines of the Swedenborgian faith In the purchase of books and tracts, treating on this system of religión he expended much of his revenue, and it was his custom always to carry a lew old volumes with him. Almost the flrst thing he did upon entering a settlers house, wearied with his long tramp, was to lie down on the floor, with his knapsack for a pillow, and inquire if his auditors would hear "some news right fresh from heaven." Drawforth his few tattered books he, would enlarge upon the beauties of his faith until his hearers caught the glow of hia enthusiasm, while scarcely prehending his words. So anxious was he that every one should read his books, and so limited was their number, thathe devised an original niethod by wbich one boek was converted into a BerlaL Dividing a volume into many pieces,each containing a single chapter, he left one at a log-house, and on a subsequent visit furnished another fragment, continuing this process until the whole book had been read. In this way he was enabled to furnish reading matter to several families at the same time, the only drawback to the process lying in the fact that the first instalment given to some illiterate 1 ackwoodsman happened to be the last í'raction oí the volume, and the unforlunate recipiënt was thus compelled to read the book through backward. The personal appearance of Chapman was as singular as his character. He was a small, wiry man, quick. and restless in his motions and conversation; his beard, though not long, was unshaven ; his hair was long and dark, and his eyes black and sparkling. He lived the roughest life, camping out in the woods, or, if sleeping in a house, occupying the floor. He dress was an indescribable medley, composed of tlie cast-off clothing he had taken in exchange for apple-trees. In later years he seemed to think even this kind of f second-hand raiment too laxurious.and wore as his principal garment an old coilee sack in the bottom and sides of which he cut holes to thrua: his heau and arms through. This he pronounced "a very serviceable cloak, and as good clothing as any man need wear." I He scarcely ever wore shoes, except in winter but, if traveling in the summer time, and the rough road hurt his feet, he would make himself a rude pair of sandals. He never purchased any covering for his feet. Wlien lie I used anything in the form of boots or I shoes they were cast-off things, I ally unmated, which he would gather up, however dilapidated they might be, always insisting that it was a sin to throw asidc a boot or shoe so long as it would adhere to a human foot. His head-gear was constructed on a like economical principie. Por a long time he wore the large tin dipper in which he cooked his mush while traveling. But, as it failed sufflciently to protect his eyes from the sun, he constructed a liat of paste-board, with an immense peak in front, and bent down at the sides to shade his face from the I heat ; thus securing an article that combined usefulness with economy, and which became his permanent fashion. The same close economy Johnny carried into all the phases of his life, tending it to his diet, which was as meagre as his elothing. He believed ittobeasinto kill any creature for j f ood, holding that the soil produced eyerything requisite for human subsistence. Among his other eccentricities was that of bearing pain with more than Indian fortitude. His nervous sensibility seems to have been less acute thnn tfgeof ordluary mortals; for if hehada ent or sore, his method of treatment was lkst to sear it with a red-hot iron, and then cure it as a burn. This fortitude, together with his strange appearance and eccentrie actions, led the Indians, among whom he wandered unmolested, to regard him as a great "medicine-man," and to treat him with much kindness. During the war of 1012, when the frontier settlers were hunted down by the savage allies of Great Britain, Johnny travelled night and day, warning the people of approaching danger. Visiting every cabin, he delivered this message : "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, and has mmointei] me tu blow the trumpet in the wilderness and sound the alarm in the f orest ; for behold the tribes of the heathen are round about ybur doore, and a devouring thuae follovreth al km them." jJenying himself food or rest, he traversed the border day and night warning all the settlers until the danger was past. Thus this strangely ciad, eccentric charactei wandered tor years through the forests and border settleinents, caring for his scattered nuraeries and spreading the tenets of his peculiar faith. Leading a blameless and moral lite, lie likened himself to the primitive Christians, literally taking no thought for the morrow. It was this conviction that made him at all times serenely happy. Upon one occasion an itinerant preacher was holding forth on the public squari' in Mansiield in a long and somevvhat tedious discourse upon the sin of extravagance ; frequently emphasizing his text by the inquiry, "Where now is tlie barefooted Christian traveling to heaven V" Johnnie, who was lying on his back iu some timber, taking the question in its literal sense, raised his bare feet in the air and vociferated, "Here's your primitive Christian !" to the discomflture of the well-dressed missionary. In 1838 Johnny took a solemn farewell of all the families in this part of the state, following his vocation for the next niue years on the border of Ohio and Indiana. In 1847 he died in the cabin of a settler near Fort Wayne, at the age of seventy-two years, 46 of which had been devoted to his self-imposed mission. The physician who was present at his death was heard to inquire what was Johnny Appleseed's religión ; he had never seen a man in so placid a state at the approach of death, and so ready to enter upon another life.